Texas Rangers Blog

BALTIMORE – All eyes will be on Josh Hamilton in the first inning Wednesday night at 6:05 p.m. CDT when the Rangers play Baltimore (TV: Fox Sports Southwest; Radio: KESN-103.3 FM). Hamilton has a chance to tie the major league record for consecutive at-bats with an extra base hit in the first inning. He has six. The record is seven shared by Elmer Smith, who did it in 1921, and Earl Sheely, who did it five years later.

Rangers starter: RHP Colby Lewis (3-1, 2.97 ERA) saw his streak of five consecutive quality starts end at Cleveland on Friday when he allowed 10 hits and six runs in 6 2/3 innings. Lewis has pitched at least six innings in 55 of his 70 starts since rejoining the Rangers in 2010. He is tied for ninth in the AL in quality starts since 2010 with 44. Neither of his two starts at Camden Yards in that time, however, have qualified as quality starts.

Matchup of note: Mr. All-or-nothing Mark Reynolds is 3-for-6 against Lewis with two homers and ive RBIs. On the other hand, he’s struck out in three of the six at-bats.

Baltimore starter: LHP Wei-Yin Chen (2-0, 2.76 ERA) may be from an exotic locale (Taiwan), but appears to be your garden variety lefty. He’ll mix an average 90 mph fastball with a changeup and slider. Chen has the fifth lowest first-pitch strike percentage in the AL at 51.5 The Rangers will have faced the other four in the last 10 days: Kyle Drabek (51.0), Baltimore’s Jake Arrieta (51.0), Ricky Romero (50.3) and Derek Lowe (49.4). Going into Tuesday’s game against Arrieta, the Rangers were 2-1 in those games.

Matchup of note: No Rangers have faced Chen, but if they can wait him out a little, they should have success. Through the first 75 pitches, he’s allowing hitters a .217 average; afterward it jumps to .333.